Inequality and Gender (AQA A-Level Sociology): Revision Notes
Inequality and Gender
Understanding sex and gender
Sociologists make an important distinction between sex and gender, viewing them as separate concepts that serve different analytical purposes.
Sex refers to the physical and biological characteristics that differentiate men from women. These are the anatomical and physiological features that are typically present from birth.
Gender, however, describes the socially constructed roles and expectations associated with what society considers 'masculine' and 'feminine' behaviour. Unlike biological sex, gender roles are not fixed or universal. They are created by society and can change over time, varying considerably across different cultures and historical periods.
This distinction is important for feminist sociologists because it demonstrates that gender inequality is not inevitable or natural, but rather a product of social arrangements that can potentially be challenged and changed.
Women's experiences of inequality in the stratification system
Labour market segregation
The UK labour market demonstrates clear patterns of gender inequality through two main forms of segregation that continue to shape women's working experiences today.
Understanding these two types of segregation is crucial for recognising how gender inequality operates in seemingly different ways but with similar discriminatory outcomes.
Vertical segregation occurs when women face barriers to reaching senior positions, even within sectors where they are well-represented. Women earn less than men and are less likely to secure top jobs. Professional women frequently encounter a glass ceiling - an invisible barrier that prevents advancement to top managerial positions.
Barron and Norris (1976) observed that companies often base promotions on continuous service, which tends to favour men since women more frequently take career breaks for childbirth and childcare responsibilities.
Horizontal segregation describes the concentration of men and women in different types of work at similar hierarchical levels. Women predominate in clerical work, retail, and catering sectors. Primary school teaching is almost exclusively female, whilst certain 'masculine' jobs remain male-dominated with equivalent pay.
Educational achievements and persistent inequalities
Educational patterns have shifted dramatically in recent decades. Girls now outperform boys across nearly every GCSE subject, and more women than men attend university. However, this educational success has not translated into complete workplace equality.
By 2013/14, only approximately 1 in 5 professors were female, highlighting ongoing imbalances in senior academic positions despite women's educational achievements.
Liberal feminist explanations: discrimination and socialisation
Liberal feminists focus on changing attitudes and removing prejudice as the key to achieving gender equality. They emphasise two main factors that they believe can create meaningful social change.
Changing attitudes and equal opportunities
Liberal feminists believe progress comes through campaigning for legal changes, from securing voting rights in the 1920s to more recent anti-discrimination legislation. They advocate for equal opportunity policies and challenging discriminatory practices.
The role of socialisation
According to liberal feminists, gender inequality begins with socialisation processes that shape different life expectations for boys and girls. They argue that girls are encouraged to adopt expressive (emotional) roles whilst boys are encouraged to take leadership positions.
Liberal feminists also suggest that gender roles encourage girls to prioritise marriage and children over career development. However, research by Sue Sharpe in the 1990s found that teenage girls increasingly expressed career ambitions, suggesting attitudes are evolving.
The concept of socialisation is central to liberal feminist theory because it suggests that if we can change how we raise children, we can reduce gender inequality in future generations.
Legal changes and the persistent gender pay gap
Legislative developments
The 2010 Equality Act replaced earlier anti-discrimination laws, strengthening protections against discrimination based on gender, ethnicity and disability. The 1975 Sex Discrimination Act made it illegal to advertise jobs specifically for men or women.
The ongoing gender pay gap
Despite legal protections, the gender pay gap persists - referring to the difference in average hourly earnings between all working men and all working women. The 1970 Equal Pay Act and subsequent 1984 amendment aimed to ensure equal pay for equal work, but by 2015, women still earned approximately 80p for every £1 earned by men per hour.
Several factors contribute to this gap:
- Difficulty in determining job equivalence
- Women's greater likelihood to take career breaks for childcare
- More unpaid work undertaken by women, including elder care and housework
- Evidence of continuing workplace discrimination
The persistence of the gender pay gap demonstrates that legal equality does not automatically translate into practical equality, showing the complex nature of gender discrimination in society.
Health inequalities between genders
Women in the UK experience different health patterns compared to men, revealing how gender affects not just economic opportunities but also health outcomes and experiences.
Key patterns include:
- Women live approximately four years longer than men on average
- Women spend more time living with disability
- Women visit healthcare providers more frequently
- Women are more likely to be diagnosed with mental health conditions
Some sociologists attribute women's higher rates of mental health diagnosis to more stressful lives, whilst others suggest this reflects sexism within medical practice, with doctors potentially viewing women as less stable.
Men face higher mortality rates due to engaging in more physically dangerous occupations and lifestyle choices, including higher rates of smoking and drinking.
Radical feminist perspectives: patriarchy and male dominance
Radical feminists offer a more fundamental critique, arguing that society operates as a patriarchy - a system of male power where men form the ruling class and all women experience oppression from all men.
Key radical feminist arguments
Radical feminists contend that men use cultural control to maintain gender inequality, presenting patriarchal arrangements as 'natural'. They view sexual oppression as the most important form of inequality, with other forms like class and ethnicity being secondary.
Female biology and societal responses to it are seen by radical feminists as central causes of gender inequality.
Shulamith Firestone's biological argument
Firestone (1970) argued that gender inequalities stem directly from biological differences. She claimed that pregnancy and childbirth create physical, psychological and social disadvantages for women. Firestone controversially advocated for women gaining control over reproduction, supporting abortion and contraception access, and envisioned artificial reproduction as a solution to biological inequality.
Radical Feminist Analysis: Firestone's Solution
Firestone's argument follows this logic:
- Women's biology (pregnancy, childbirth) creates disadvantages
- These biological differences are used to justify social inequality
- Therefore, eliminating biological differences through technology would eliminate gender inequality
- She proposed artificial reproduction as the ultimate solution to women's oppression
Marxist feminist perspectives: capitalism and patriarchy
Marxist feminists argue that gender inequality can only be understood within social and economic contexts, particularly capitalism's impact on gender relations.
Capitalism's exploitation of women
Marxist feminists identify several ways capitalism specifically exploits women's labour:
- Women function as a 'reserve army of labour' - hired and dismissed according to economic demand
- Male workers attempt to exclude women from trades and skilled crafts to protect their own positions
- Husbands benefit from wives' unpaid housework
The bourgeois family structure
Marxist feminists view the bourgeois family in capitalist society as inherently patriarchal and unequal. They argue this family structure allows men to pass property from fathers to sons, with women working primarily for male benefit rather than their own advancement.
The logic suggests that eliminating private property would remove incentives for such arrangements. Therefore, Marxist feminists propose that ending capitalism through socialist revolution would resolve gender inequalities.
Black feminism and intersectionality
Triple systems theory
Black feminists, particularly bell hooks, argue that mainstream feminism overlooks the experiences of women who face multiple forms of oppression. In "Ain't I a Woman?" (1981), hooks contends that white feminists benefit indirectly from racist structures and therefore lack enthusiasm for challenging racism.
Sylvia Walby (1990) developed the concept of women experiencing oppression through three interconnected systems:
- Gender (through patriarchy)
- Social class (through capitalism)
- Ethnicity (through racism)
This framework, known as 'triple systems theory', recognises that women's experiences of inequality cannot be understood through gender alone but must consider how multiple forms of discrimination intersect and compound each other.
Triple systems theory was revolutionary because it challenged the idea that all women experience oppression in the same way, highlighting how race and class create different experiences of gender inequality.
Key Points to Remember:
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Sex refers to biological differences, whilst gender describes socially constructed roles that can change across time and cultures
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The labour market shows both vertical segregation (glass ceiling effects) and horizontal segregation (different job types), despite women's educational achievements
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Liberal feminists focus on changing laws and attitudes, radical feminists emphasise patriarchy and male oppression, whilst Marxist feminists highlight capitalism's role in gender inequality
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Legal changes like the 2010 Equality Act exist, but the gender pay gap persists due to multiple factors including career breaks and ongoing discrimination
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Black feminists introduced triple systems theory, showing how gender, class, and ethnicity intersect to create different experiences of inequality for different groups of women